Bicycles are commonly used as a basic form of transportation, recreation and/or exercise for a single rider. The bicycle can also be used to carry items for the convenience of the rider. For this reason, numerous devices exist for the purpose of enhancing the load-carrying capacities of bicycles. For example, luggage racks and cargo baskets allow the rider to keep their hands available for driving of the bicycle. However, while these devices allow a bicycle rider to carry cargo, they often require a myriad of cables and tie-downs for securement, especially if cargo includes loose items.
Some cargo carriers are self-contained and do not require extra tiedowns for cargo securement. For example, bags and packs modified with straps or clips may be attached to bicycles and used to transport goods. Typically, these carriers are removable from a bicycle and may be easily transferred from one bicycle to another. These carriers typically dangle below a portion of the bicycle frame or hang from the bicycle seat. As a result, although self-contained bags and packs may be attached to a wide variety of bicycles, they are not suitable for carrying large or bulky loads.
Other types of carriers include rigid containers capable of holding heavy bulky items. In particular, a number of inventions are directed to coolers attached to the handlebar area of a bicycle. The use of a cooler allows a rider to carry cold drinks, food and snacks. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 5,024,359 discloses a bicycle cooler that is adapted for mounting to the handlebar portion of a bicycle. This cooler has a bracket formed integral with the cooler making the manufacturing process unique to this type of attachment.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,282,554 discloses a cooler and mounting bracket for attachment to a bicycle. The cooler claimed in this patent employs a two-piece bracket, wherein one piece is secured to a side surface of the cooler and detachably couples with a corresponding second piece that is mounted on the bicycle handlebar portion. The mounting bracket includes a retention slot for receipt of the bracket secured to the cooler. The cooler can then be removed from the bicycle without removal of the mounting bracket from the bicycle. U.S. Pat. No. 5,406,816 discloses an improvement to the aforementioned invention. The improvement includes the use of various types of containers that can be attached to the two-piece bracket. While these devices set forth a particular type of cooler attachment, they fail to address the various types of coolers that the public may choose to use as well as the large variety of bicycles that may employ such a product.
For this reason, while a particular cooler attachment may address the relative position between a handlebar and head tube, no teaching is made which addresses the variety of handlebar and head tube diameters that exist in today's bicycle designs, or the cabling for brakes and gears that may not allow for an inflexible attachment. For example, many mountain bikes are built with oversized tubing to provide high-strength, low-weight frames. Rigid-container carriers do not provide attachment hardware that will adequately fit this type of bicycle frame. Unfortunately, simply providing large-diameter attachment members is not an effective approach: most on-road bikes do not have oversized tubing and oversized attachment members would, in turn, not properly fit these bikes. To complicate matters even further, many different bicycles for each type of terrain; these riders would need separate mounting hardware for each type of bike.
Even single-bike owners present difficulties for most rigid-container carriers, because the known devices do not address the versatile nature of today's bicycles. For example, depending upon the intended travel surface or weather conditions, bicycle riders may customize a single bicycle with a variety of equipment. Much of this equipment is handlebar-mounted. For example, many riders place an overwrap or grip tape on their bicycle handlebars to increase control in wet or cold conditions. Some riders also mount safety horns or travel computers, which often have associated wires on their bicycle handlebars. The design of known rigid container mounts severely limits a rider's ability to use handlebar-mounted enhancements or equipment. Using or removing this type of equipment changes the handlebar size of a given bicycle, and changing the diameter of the handlebar from a preset size requires new attachment hardware. As a result, even a single bicycle with non-oversized tubing may sometimes require separate sets of attachment hardware. Furthermore, depending upon the type of equipment used, an appropriate set may not exist.
Finally, there are a number of coolers on the market that a particular rider may appreciate for his usage. For instance, a cooler having a rotatable top would be most beneficial to rider who prefers to access the contents of the cooler without stopping to handle the lid.
Thus, what is needed is a universal mounting bracket that allows the consumer the ability to mount any type of cooler and accommodate frame tubing of various sizes for ease of attachment and removal. The mounting bracket providing sufficient flexibility to allow operation of gear-control and hand brake cables and be movable between bicycles with minimal adjustment.